RACES: Washington turned a 5-1 week (and 9 of the last 10 run) into a half game lead in the NL East, where nobody else had more than 3 wins…Atlanta and the Nats are tied over the last 20 games and Atlanta has the edge over the last 30…Both teams are also in impressive WOR territory…The Cubs picked up a couple games on the Brewers, who might have a big enough cushion with only a few weeks left…The Dodgers had a perfect 7-0 week to bring themselves to within striking distance of the DBacks…Rockies had a winning week and Padres were an impressive 4-1…Boston edged forward by a couple in the East, and while Cleveland is coasting in the AL central the Chisox and Twins each had solid weeks…Houston has taken a solid-sized lead in the AL west, and Anaheim, who has the best AL west record over the last 20 games, has jockeyed into second place…Tampa Bay cooled off, kind of, and is now a front-runner for the second wildcard spot…Angels can now challenge for that…Cardinals are scraping for a playoff chance but don’t blame the pitching…their real team ERA is 3.16, behind only Houston…Tampa Bay is 3rd at 3.22…best real OPS goes to Washington, followed by the Dodgers….of all the ASFBL subjective decisions that have been made, I am happiest about keeping the Angels associated with Anaheim, as they are not in the Los Angeles city limits, or the Los Angeles county limits, and I refuse to drive to Los Angeles to see the Angels play…BIG WEEKS: Chris Sale struck out 27 in 18 innings last week…the real news is that opponents managed to score 2 runs…Zack Wheeler (now of the Nats) threw 16 innings…emerging Anaheim (yes, Anaheim) closer Ty Buttrey (who has the nickname “Butt”) stranded all 3 inherited runners while striking out 12…Jonathan Villar and Justin Smoak each hit 4 homers last week…Smoak knocked in 10…Justin Turner powered the Dodger surge by hitting .400 over 30 AB…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Charlie Morton of HOU had 11 strikeouts against DET on 9/10/2018
Josh James of HOU had 16 strikeouts against DET on 9/11/2018
Zack Wheeler of WAS had 10 strikeouts against PHI on 9/11/2018
Chris Sale of BOS had 11 strikeouts against TOR on 9/11/2018
Jose Quintana of CHC had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 9/11/2018
Reynaldo Lopez of CWS had 11 strikeouts against KCR on 9/11/2018
TEX and LAA played 13.5 innings on 9/11/2018
Anibal Sanchez of ATL struck out 4 times against SFG on 9/11/2018
Mike Clevinger of CLE had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 9/12/2018
Justin Verlander of HOU had 12 strikeouts against DET on 9/12/2018
Carlos Rodon of CWS had 12 strikeouts against KCR on 9/12/2018
Patrick Corbin of ARI had 10 strikeouts against COL on 9/12/2018
Marcus Semien of OAK struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/13/2018
Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of BOS had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 9/13/2018
Curtis Granderson of TOR struck out 4 times against BOS on 9/13/2018
Russell Martin of TOR struck out 4 times against BOS on 9/13/2018
Jack Flaherty of STL had 12 strikeouts against LAD on 9/13/2018
Yoan Moncada of CWS struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/14/2018
Avisail Garcia of CWS struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/14/2018
Blake Snell of TBR had 12 strikeouts against OAK on 9/14/2018
Ramon Laureano of OAK struck out 4 times against TBR on 9/14/2018
Whit Merrifield of KCR hit 3 home runs against MIN on 9/14/2018
Jorge Bonifacio of KCR had 5 hits against MIN on 9/14/2018
CWS and BAL played 13.5 innings on 9/15/2018
Charlie Morton of HOU had 10 strikeouts against ARI on 9/15/2018
Chris Sale of BOS had 16 strikeouts against NYM on 9/16/2018
Matt Olson of OAK hit 3 home runs against TBR on 9/16/2018
Matt Olson of OAK had 7 RBI against TBR on 9/16/2018